The present invention relates in general to wireless telecommunications services, and, more specifically, to providing location-based cellular telecommunications services to a wireless subscriber when located at a wireline terminal.
A variety of different types of networks exist in today's telecommunication environment. One type of common network is a wireless telecommunication network, commonly referred to as a cellular telephone network. In wireless networks, switching is performed by mobile switching centers (MSC). Each MSC typically controls one or more base stations or base transceiver stations (BTS), sometimes via one or more base station controllers (BSC). Each BTS provides a wireless coverage area within which mobile switching centers can communicate with wireless devices over an air interface. The wireless devices can be cellular or PCS telephones, or other devices. Different formats may be used for communicating over the air interface. The most commonly used formats in the United States are AMPS, TDMA, and CDMA.
Each wireless device typically has a “home” wireless network in which a home location register (HLR) serves as a centralized database of information about the wireless device. Typically, the HLR contains a service profile for the wireless device, the last reported location of the wireless device, and the current status of the wireless device. The service profile indicates the services to which the wireless device subscribes. Typically, the HLR also has access to the service logic needed to provide the subscribed services.
When an MSC needs to find information about a wireless device, such as where the wireless device is located or the services to which the wireless device subscribes, the MSC queries the HLR corresponding to that wireless device. Thus, to inquire about a wireless device that is roaming, i.e., operating on a network other than its home network, the MSC queries an HLR that is outside of its network. Typically, an MSC determines the proper HLR to query based on an electronic identification number comprising the mobile identification number (MIN) and/or the electronic serial number (ESN) transmitted by the wireless device. Information retrieved relating to roaming devices is stored in a visitor location register (VLR) database.
Broadband packet networks represent another type of network. For example, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks have been developed to provide broadband transport and switching capability to Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN). Frame relay networks are another type of broadband packet network. Other types of broadband packet networks are possible as well.
The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is still another type of network. The PSTN includes switches which can route both voice and data communications between end users. Typically, these switches are Class 4 or Class 5 switches.
Different types of networks are often connected to each other. For example, wireless networks can be connected to broadband networks. Both can be connected to the PSTN. There is a need to interconnect these different types of networks such that devices in one network can communicate with devices in other networks. A need also exists to allow a wireless device for a cellular network (e.g., a PCS handset) to work as a terminal device on a broadband network (e.g., a wireless LAN) in a particular location. The wireless LAN may provide both voice and data connectivity to a dual network wireless device in a picocell arrangement. When a dual network device moves between the picocell and the wide area wireless network, there is a need to hand-off calls between the networks and to inform the various networks of where an end user can currently be reached. One example interface for utilizing a dual networking device on a picocell wireless network to access other networks is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,711,417, issued to Gorman et al on Mar. 23, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In a typical wireless data communication session, a user of a mobile station may direct the mobile station to send data via the air interface and radio access system to a data server (e.g., web server) on the Internet or other data network, and the data server may send data via the radio access system and air interface back to the mobile station. To facilitate such data communications, many mobile stations are now equipped (e.g., programmed) with a microbrowser application which enables a user to engage in a scaled down version of the same sort of web browsing that is conventionally conducted from a desktop personal computer. In practice, the user typically interacts with the microbrowser through a display screen and keypad on the mobile station. The microbrowser exchanges instructions with a server to perform functions requested by the user, and it may also interpret instructions received by the server that describe the layout and content of the microbrowser screen or that request the microbrowser to query the user for information.
The ability to engage in data sessions at mobile stations has opened up a myriad of possibilities. Mobile station users can now access a wide variety of information services from almost anywhere where mobile communications are supported. The information services can take a variety of forms, including, for instance, stock quotes, sports scores, weather reports, traffic reports, emergency notifications, and information about locations of facilities such as restaurants, hotels, and gas stations.
Some of the information services that a user might access from a data-capable mobile station are location-based. For instance, an information service might be arranged to provide weather or traffic conditions for a particular geographic region, or to provide the street addresses of a designated type of restaurant. These and other location-based services may be keyed to the exact location of the mobile station, so that a user of the mobile station can access the information service and obtain information pertinent to the user's present location. For instance, a web service provider might allow a user to query a data server for the addresses of all pizza restaurants or fueling stations within a predetermined distance of the user's current location, with the server then providing turn-by-turn directions to the destination in response to the user's current location. In these location-based services, the data server sends the requested location-based information to the microbrowser, and the microbrowser may cause the information to be displayed for viewing by the user.
Alternatively, the location-based service may involve having the data server take a location-based action even without providing location-based information to the mobile station for presentation to the user. For example, based on the fact that a mobile station is in a particular location, the data server might send a particular message to some other entity or take some other responsive action.
To facilitate such location-based services, the HLR in the wireless system maintains current location information on the subscriber. For services requiring only an approximate location, then the location of the base station currently in contact with the wireless device may be sufficient location information. Many services, however, require more exact information, so that the HLR maintains a more exact position of the user based on current geographic coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude). The position information may be obtained using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver contained in most cellular phones. This information is broadcast over the wireless link to the MSC and then populated into the HLR database for use in providing location-based services.
The functionality of the location-based services has not been available to the user of a dual-mode wireless device when connected to a prior art picocell or other wireless LAN via a wireless access point. Even in existing systems that report the landline network address (e.g., E164 address or POTS telephone number that connects the picocell to the PSTN) to the HLR (to allow the subscriber to continue to receive calls to their mobile telephone number while they are connected to the picocell, for example), the geographic location of the user is not available to the HLR and location-based services are not supported.